Memorial Day Weekend 2005. So, me + Dianne + Grellan + Andy set off Friday night to spend a weekend up in Vermont. We werenever able to get our shit together enough for a Montauk beach house (sniffle) and nothing was really going on in NYC, so we figured we'd spend the weekend just lounging around, maybe hike the mountain (Mt. Snow), whatever. As long as we were getting out of the city, right?

So we left around 8pm. Made the obligatory stop at Exit 40 (read: Wendy's) and then decided why not just go to Foxwoods?

So we did. Kind of. We went to Mohegan Sun instead. Rolled in around 11pm, valet parked and hit the craps tables. By the time we left at 1am, Grellan had learned how to play craps (and was up $40), Dianne lost her slot machine virginity (and was down $20), Krucoff was up $150 from one lucky pull at the slots and I was up about $240 thanks to the Spanish-speaking woman who stood next to me at the craps table rolling hard eights for 20 mins straight. (the the record, Grellan and I held the dice for about 180 secondstotal).

We rolled into Vermont around 3:30am to find the place a little cold and with NO RUNNING WATER. That means no sink, no showers, no flushing. Mom and Dad just put a new washer and dryer in there so I figured maybe the water never got turned back on. We all went to bed thinking we'd just deal with it in the morning.

The morning. Dead hummingbirds ("the sweetest of all birds!" - Dianne) dead on the deck = never a good sign.

It goes without saying that the no-water scenario did no fix itself overnight.

Instead, I found this note on my car (left by the nice neighbors): "No water due to siezed pump... blah blah blah... won't be fixed till Tuesday... blah blah blah... have fun without water, suckers!"

Ugh. So what to do? Get a hotel? Suck it up without showers? Poop in the woods?

Well, I promised Big Dig I'd help him move some stuff out of the house so we sat around wating for him for a bit while trying to figure out what we should do.

Andy threatened to go all Lewis and Clark mad-explorer style.

Big Dig rolled in around 2pm. We packed his borrowed pickup ("Sweet Hemi") up with some leftover stuff from VT (old mattresses, headboards, busted washing machine) and sent him on his way.

Though not before switching out his beat-up Sox hat...

... for a shiny red Google hat!

So, with dad's car all packed up (and with him heading to the cape to unload some of the stuff) + no water in Vermont + it was just starting to rain, we cleaned up and decided to head to the cape. (For the record, "our weekend in Vermont" lasted just over 12 hours.)

We stopped at a random cookout along the way. $2 burgers and $0.50 hot dogs!

Complete with a real live jam band (Vermont, remember?)...

... and some souped up classic cars.

(Note: not the General Lee)

Grellan, stoked.

On the Mass Pike. I asked Grellan to grab a few shots of the highway signs for teendrama purposes. I ended up with two headshots, one crotch shot and this crappy blurry pic.

No traffic (amazing) and we rolled into Eastham at about 10pm. Just in time to help Mom + Dad unpack all the loot from Vermont (washing machine included).

We finished up around midnight, sent mom + dad on their way and crashed.

Note: Andy's sunburn from sitting on the deck earlier in the day.

G stoped by to visit just in time to help us unpack stuff (perfect timing!) while Jonathan and Jackie rolled in around 2am (post U2 show @ The Garden)

Next morning we got up and braved the Memorial Day crowds at the "Gold Star Pick" breakfast place down the street (Dig's recommendation). 40 minute wait (, of course) so we killed time hanging out in the parking lot...

(ps: Jonathan eventually came back - figured it was worth braving the traffic to lounge on the beach all day. Well played.)

Jonathan augmented the day's lounging with his own version of Growler Cooling Technology(tm).

Me + G = windy.

7pm = time to face the traffic and journey home.

After a quick stop a Papa Ginos. (I love you Chicken Parm)

Amazingly, we hit ZERO traffic. None on 6. None on 195. None on 95. The stoopid British guy that lives inside my car's navigation system got us lost when we tried to drop Dianne off in Brooklyn, but besides that it was smooth sailing.